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Inside Web Lab
Issue 1.0
June 3, 1999

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Web Lab
Inciting Online Innovation in the Public Interest http://www.WebLab.org

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Contents

About Web Lab
Looking for Love Stories
VAGUEpolitix sneak preview
NeedCom
Funding News
Advisory Board
Sightings

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About Web Lab Web Lab develops and promotes innovative ways to use the web as a transforming force in people's lives and in society, and catalyzes others to experiment with the medium's potential to serve the public interest. It's going to be a busy summer for us - here are some of the projects to watch for:

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We're looking for Love Stories Web Lab is creating a Web site inspired by "An American Love Story," a major series scheduled to air on PBS in September 1999. The series documents 1 1/2 years in the life of the Wilson-Sims family. Bill Sims (a black man) and Karen Wilson (a white woman) fell in love in 1967 and they've worked together for 30 years to overcome problems caused by their differences. The site will feature many different American Love Stories, stories about couples who have established intimate relationships that cross not just racial differences, but religious, ethnic, geographical, age and other boundaries as well. If you -- or someone you know well -- are in a relationship that bridges major differences, please consider submitting a story. http://www.pbs.org/lovestories

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VAGUEpolitix sneak preview We are excited to be launching VAGUEpolitix on PBS Online June 14th (Flag Day!). The site aims to capture the hearts and minds of Americans tired of partisan bickering, lobbyist hype, and dull debates by proposing that our greatest enemy isn't the power of multinational conglomerates or the increasing intrusiveness of state power, but boredom -- ours. Can Vague be the antidote we've all been waiting for? Come check it out and let us know what you think. VAGUEpolitix is an independent site funded by Web Lab. The first issue of a projected quarterly is being hosted and co-promoted by PBS Online. http://www.pbs.org/weblab/vaguepolitix/preview

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NeedCom
The final stage of the Web Development Fund, Round 2 is coming to a close and NeedCom is the first of three sites that will be receiving support. Using market research tools, NeedCom offers an ironic, yet introspective experience regarding the user's "donation strategies" in relationship to panhandlers. The site asks: why do we give and whom do we choose to give to? Through an engaging series of online questionnaires and interviews, visitors are drawn to deeper issues within themselves about the nature of panhandling, work, charity and a number of other related subjects. NeedCom is slated to launch July 18th. Next month we look forward to announcing the other two funded projects. http://www.pbs.org/weblab/needcom

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Funding News
For the past year, Web Lab has been developing a new model for Web-based dialogues -- so far with promising, even inspiring results. The last go-around was Reality Check, an intensive four-month exploration of the issues swirling around the impeachment of President Clinton. http://www.reality-check.org The MacArthur Foundation and the Markle Foundation have just awarded us grants to support a thorough outside evaluation of Reality Check and the impact it had on the people who participated. But we will be able to go further than that, also evaluating our use of the small group dialogue model on the upcoming American Love Stories site (see above). We'll report on developments in the evaluation process in future newsletters.

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Advisory Board
Four new members have recently joined Web Lab's Advisory Board and we're looking forward to drawing on their insights and expertise. Jason McCabe Calacanis is the editor, publisher and founder of the Silicon Alley Reporter and Chairman and CEO of Rising Tide Studios. [http://www.risingtidestudios.com] Ron Wakkary, a professor at TechBC in Vancouver, British Columbia, is also the director and cofounder of Stadium@Dia [http://www.stadiumweb.com]

Tom Watson is the editor and co-founder of @NY [http://www.atnewyork.com] and president of New Paradigm Communications, Inc. Benjamin Weil, director of new media at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) [http://www.newmediacentre.com] in London, co-founded and directed äda 'web, which commissioned Web-specific artists' projects. A full list of the illustrious group they're joining is at: http://www.weblab.org/adbo.ihtml

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Sightings
Barry Joseph, Supervising Producer, was given three minutes last month to speak at the 2nd annual Edgewise conference. And when they said three minutes, they meant it! An enormous digital clock clicked off the seconds behind him, and a whistle was set to blow at 0:00 and cut off the mike. This month he will participate in a more relaxed setting as part of a new endeavor of the Andy Warhol Museum, moderating their first Online Community Forum on the topic "Andy and Walt: Designing Experience, Creating Environments", in conjunction with a travelling Disney exhibit.

Our executive producer Marc Weiss has been doing some traveling recently. Last week he was part of a public broadcasting delegation to the "News in the Future" consortium of the renowned MIT Media Lab. He spoke briefly about Reality Check and has been invited to come back in the fall to report on ALS. Next week he will be in Washington for the first "Platinum Technology 21st Century Pioneer Partnership Award," at the Smithsonian Institution for which he was a nominator.

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